Folding knives with assisted-open mechanisms are widely used by hunters, carpenters, and outdoor enthusiasts for their portability and safe handling when folded. Traditional assisted-open folding knives typically contain a knife blade having a protrusion such as a stud, pin, or oversized tang extending out from an exposed portion of the knife blade when the folding knife is in a closed position. When deploying such knives, a user typically pushes on the protrusion to actuate the knife blade.
However, such traditional assisted-open folding knives are often difficult to maneuver and may harm the user's fingers or hands when the user is unfamiliar with the operation of the assisted-open mechanism. For example, some assisted-open folding knives may require the user to place the user's thumb dangerously close to the blade of the knife in order to actuate the knife blade. In addition, the knife blade of such assisted-open folding knives can be difficult to deploy and may require the user to hold the handle of the knife with one hand and pull on the knife blade with the user's other hand in order to fully deploy the knife blade. In other cases, some assisted-open folding knives may be deployed on accident when a part of the user's body or an object brushes against the protrusion on the knife blade.
Therefore, a solution is needed which allows the user to easily and safely actuate the knife blade of an assisted-open folding knife with one hand. Such a solution should be intuitive to understand for novice users and should provide features that prevent the knife blade from inadvertently actuating when the folding knife is in a user's pocket or otherwise being carried in transit.